A month ago, the Thanksgiving night game looked like a bonanza for the NFL Network. The New York Giants were steamrolling through the NFC with a 5-0 record, and the 6-0 Denver Broncos were the surprise of the NFL.

Then reality struck and now the nation is left with a game that might not divert anyone’s attention from dinner. Both teams lost four straight games (though the Giants rallied for a win last weekend) and are now treading water at 6-4, trying to put the pieces back together on their once-promising seasons. They have each lost key players to injury and more confidence with each defeat.

And neither team can afford to lose anymore.

The Broncos are likely the more desperate team, though only by a little. Their losing streak is ongoing and they’ll be in front of their own impatient fans, and with the San Diego Chargers having taken the lead in the AFC West they can’t afford to lose any more ground in the better conference. Plus, they seem stunned by what has happened to them since their last win Oct. 19.

In fact, according to a player who witnessed the downfall, they were stunned as soon as the losing started.

“It was a real fun atmosphere at the very beginning of the season,” said rookie defensive back D.J. Johnson, whom the Giants signed off the Broncos’ practice squad two weeks ago. “But after one loss the attitude kind of changed. You could've sworn they were a 1-15 team.”

“I think you don’t go into it expecting to deal with four-game losing streaks,” said Broncos coach Josh McDaniels. “But I don’t know if you go into it expecting to have six-game winning streaks, either. It’s a harsh league if you don’t play and coach as well as you can or as well as the other team on the other side of the ball coaches and plays. You learn a harsh lesson that weekend. We have had a few here in a row and that certainly hasn’t sat well with our team, myself and our staff.”

The Giants aren’t as shellshocked, at least not anymore. Their entire mental attitude changed Sunday when a Lawrence Tynes field goal in overtime gave them their first victory since Oct. 11.

“(Winning) makes it easier to do everything,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said Monday morning. “I thought the coffee was better this morning.”

“Obviously, you love to come in here and practice when you get a win rather than the weeks before that when you have to kind of look at that film and look at the things that you didn’t do to prepare yourself to get the win,” said defensive end Justin Tuck. “Now this week is the complete opposite. You look at things that you did do that kind of put you over the top to get the win.”

It certainly made the short week easier for the Giants than it was for the Broncos, coming off a 32-3 loss to San Diego. But the truth is these two teams that once looked like building powerhouses are in the exact same situations. They’re in good position at 6-4, but still feeling and looking like shells of their former selves. A win on Thanksgiving night will give one team a lot to be thankful for heading into the final five weeks of the season.

A loss, though, could be tough to recover from for either team.

In other Thanksgiving action:

Green Bay Packers (6-4) at Detroit Lions (2-8). Oh, good. The entire nation gets to see the Lions. Actually, this is a critical game for the Packers, who got back into the wild-card chase with back-to-back wins but also lost both cornerback Al Harris and outside linebacker Aaron Kampman to season-ending knee injuries. They’re in a three-way tie for two spots with the Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles, so they obviously need this game. It’ll help the Packers that both Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford and wide receiver Calvin Johnson might have to sit out the game with injuries, which pretty much gives nobody but the most diehard Packers fan any reason to watch.

Oakland Raiders (3-7) at Dallas Cowboys (7-3). Oh, good. The entire nation gets to see the Raiders. Actually, the Raiders put on quite a show Sunday, knocking off the Cincinnati Bengals behind quarterback Bruce Gradkowski. Though he doesn’t have much of a Q rating, he was a stabilizing force filling in for the erratic JaMarcus Russell and he completed 17 of 34 passes for 183 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Meanwhile, the Cowboys, who looked like they were ready to roll away from the pack in the NFC East two weeks ago, have now scored one touchdown in each of their last two games. With the revived Giants and steady Eagles right on their heels, it’s a bad time for quarterback Tony Romo to have a bad back and for tight end Jason Witten to be iffy with a sprained foot.

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